50 mins
Readers’ Letters
Hymn Power
Reading the Rev Lezley Stewart’s contribution to November’s Life and Work, ‘Songs that stir the emotions’, reminded me in particular of Will Your Anchor Hold, written in 1882 by Priscilla Jane Owens [1829-1907], who was a Sunday school teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. The music was composed by William Kirkpatrick, a prolific writer of hymn tunes and compiler of hymn collections.
The hymn has, of course, for many years been associated with the Boys’ Brigade, founded by Sir William Alexander Smith. The hymn for me has much personal importance, having sung it for years as a member of the Boys’ Brigade, and it still has. For many, of course, it has considerable metaphorical importance for their lives. The continued importance of the Boys’ Brigade to many was confirmed by the article in the November edition of Life and Work on the BB celebrating, in September, a century of working with the 8-11 age group, known initially as the Boy Reserves, then the Life Boys, and now the Junior Section.
Today the power and relevance of the verses and refrain still resonate throughout the world:
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fasten to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.
Ian W Thomson, Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire
Gospel Debate
I attend church most Sundays. I regard my faith as a journey towards knowledge and understanding of the ultimate mystery, God. Those of our species interested in the spiritual quest have struggled to understand this mystery since our species emerged from the process of evolution, many millennia ago. The tone and content of Mr Glen’s letters (October and November) suggests that the journey is a lost cause for those who cannot assent to his series of propositions, which he believes define the Christian faith.
Jesus’ contemporaries struggled to understand him, which clearly comes through the pages of the gospels and the letters of Paul (who did not, write all of the 13 letters attributed to him, according to the general consensus in modern scholarship). The writers of the New Testament cast around their cultural world for a conceptual framework into which they could fit Jesus, to make sense of who he was, and they used the language and ideas of their culture to express their understanding, and to record this for future generations. Obviously, the Hebrew Bible was the major source of ideas that could be used by his followers to make sense of Jesus’ life and work, and passages were selected to express their understanding of him. Passages were quoted from the Hebrew Bible if Jesus was perceived to have fulfilled them, and themes and stories from the Hebrew Bible were also used as models for expressing in the documents of the New Testament the significance his followers saw in Jesus’ life.
Cartoon: Bill McArthur
As a Christian, I recognise in Jesus the ultimate window through which our species can access the mind of God. However, without some assistance, I cannot apply to my life a series of propositions about Jesus, derived from ancient written sources, from a particular cultural context, by individuals and communities who were struggling to understand this person who had such an impact upon their lives. I have to try to use all the insights of modern scholarship to help me make sense of the significance of Jesus for my life, as a person of the twenty-first century.
Keith Wilson, Edinburgh
In the December issue of Life and Work, Mr Fernie of Inverness suggests that the dark cloud of theology may have come between mankind and God. The good news is that none of us need stumble about in the darkly shrouded mists of uncertainty because God has made His gospel plan abundantly clear in the scriptures of the old and new testaments. When we have been provided with God’s textbook we have no need to refer to any theologian since the message is crystal clear.
Perhaps Mr Fernie himself may be cast in the role of a mischievous theologian since he too seeks to cast doubt on the scriptural writings of the apostle Paul and commends the letters of Messrs Hume and Hellier, who discount the letters of Paul and the scriptures of the old testament in the formation of their gospel view. The great missionary apostle himself would have confessed that he didn’t have absolute understanding of all the things of God but his 13 letters are part of the canon of scripture and as such are accepted by all of the mainstream churches throughout the world as God’s word. My reference to Luther and Calvin was not to make out that they had infallible understanding of the things of God but that they accepted the letters of Paul as divinely inspired scripture.
When Mr Fernie goes on to refer to the “substitutionary atonement theory”, I must confess to having some sympathy for him. There was a time when I too considered the Christian gospel no more than a children’s fairytale. That was before the wonder of the gospel was clearly explained to me by a Church of Scotland member and clearly and gloriously preached to me by a Church of Scotland minister. I discovered, in the words of Paul, that it was “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” This is the message that Scotland is crying out for right now. Has there ever been a more urgent hour for the Church of Scotland to give a clear and unambiguous message to the people of Scotland? How I pray that the word of God will be rediscovered in the house of God and instead of confusing the people we start again to declare the gospel in all of its saving power and like the early apostles we may be accused of turning the world upside down.
Alex Glen, Elder, Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church, Glasgow
Mission Barrier Concern
Whither Scotland in the New Year? And Whither Parish Mission in AD 2018?
I am seriously disturbed to find that “No Cold Calling” notices have been erected at the roadside entrances to a Scottish Borders village; “that the scheme runs in conjunction with Police Scotland who are ardent supporters”; and that a door-to-door consultation resulted in almost 1 0 0 % approval.
Now, I do greatly appreciate the determination of the local community council to do something to prevent even one more vulnerable resident from being defrauded by bogus workmen, and also to protect young mothers with children. But to warn off the general passing public is to abandon our ideal of being warm, welcoming communities and is surely one of those well-intended changes that will lead to damaging, unexpected consequences. It has been put to me that “No Cold Calling” notices are being erected elsewhere and that this new practice may become the norm. Can this be the case? Is fearfulness of strangers becoming a trend that will change Scottish social customs for the worse? That there already is a price being paid for enforced isolation and the choice to live in a closed group is sadly very evident.
Satirist Armando Iannucci has been expressing concern that people nowadays are diminishing their lives by avoiding engagement with others whose views they might be uncomfortable with, while a report about depressive illness and suicide among farmers suggests as one reason that they work on their own, without the company of labourers and the erstwhile community excitement at harvest-time.
Knowing that I am a retired parish minister, the (Christian) community council member I inquired from tried to reassure me by saying this “No Cold Calling” scheme would not interfere with “pastoral visitation” and that the village would be alerted when Christian Aid Week was due. But the fact is that many of the most welcome and warm door-to-door visits I made over decades to all sorts and conditions of people in Edinburgh, Dundee and Leith began with a “cold call”.
Whither Scotland and Parish Mission now?
Here is a contrast. When the traditional nomadic life of a Bedouin group in far from risk-free Jordan proved definitely unsustainable and the government built houses for them to settle in, the new residents insisted that a huge coffee-pot be erected in the central square so as to make sure strangers knew that although they had to abandon their black tents they had not departed from their traditions of welcome and hospitality.
Jack Kellet (Rev), Innerleithen, Peebleshire
India Link
We wish to rebuild the lost relationship with the Henderson and Mure families who were major contributors towards establishing Mure Memorial Hospital (MMH) in Nagpur which was a very small town during 1891 when Dr Agnes Henderson landed in Nagpur. She realised the need for a Mother and Child care hospital after practising through her one bed clinic in the Mahal area and constructed a 2 4 bedded hospital in 1 8 9 6 in the Sitabuldi area.
There were many medical missionaries from Scotland who came after her and served the people of central India through MMH. They were working with MMH till 1 9 7 6. We would like to re-establish our relationship with the family members of all those people from the UK and particularly from Scotland who dedicate themselves to serve the people in need of this part of the world.
We will be very happy if they can visit us sometime and if possible continue to become part of the work that is going on here. We celebrated our 1 2 1 st anniversary on June 2 6 2 0 1 7 and in 2 0 2 1 we will be completing 1 2 5 years of our service to people. Dr Agnes gave us motto, “Serve in Love”…we are following that.
Dr Vilas Shende, Director, MMH, Nagpur, India
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This article appears in the February 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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